The Hindi-Bindi Club


Book Description

For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew—daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own. For Kiran, Preity, and Rani, adulthood bears the indelible stamp of their upbringing, from the ways they tweak their mothers’ cooking to suit their Western lifestyles to the ways they reject their mothers’ most fervent beliefs. Now, bearing the disappointments and successes of their chosen paths, these daughters are drawn inexorably home. Kiran, divorced, will seek a new beginning—this time requesting the aid of an ancient tradition she once dismissed. Preity will confront an old heartbreak—and a hidden shame. And Rani will face her demons as an artist and a wife. All will question whether they have the courage of the Hindi-Bindi Club, to hold on to their dreams—or to create new ones. An elegant tapestry of East and West, peppered with food and ceremony, wisdom and sensuality, this luminous novel breathes new life into timeless themes.




The Hindi-Bindi Club


Book Description

For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew—daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own. For Kiran, Preity, and Rani, adulthood bears the indelible stamp of their upbringing, from the ways they tweak their mothers’ cooking to suit their Western lifestyles to the ways they reject their mothers’ most fervent beliefs. Now, bearing the disappointments and successes of their chosen paths, these daughters are drawn inexorably home. Kiran, divorced, will seek a new beginning—this time requesting the aid of an ancient tradition she once dismissed. Preity will confront an old heartbreak—and a hidden shame. And Rani will face her demons as an artist and a wife. All will question whether they have the courage of the Hindi-Bindi Club, to hold on to their dreams—or to create new ones. An elegant tapestry of East and West, peppered with food and ceremony, wisdom and sensuality, this luminous novel breathes new life into timeless themes.




Dreaming in Hindi


Book Description

Having survived a serious illness and now at an impasse in her career, the author accepts a freelance assignment to go to India, where she finds herself utterly overwhelmed by the place and the language. Before she knows it, she's on her way to Rajasthan to live with a local family and join a language school offering 'total immersion'.




Maharani


Book Description

H.H. is the spoilt, selfish, beautiful widow of the Maharaja of Mastipur. She lives with her dogs and her caretaker, Hans, in an enormous old house in Mussoorie, taking lovers and discarding them, drinking too much and fending off her reckless sons who are waiting hungrily for their inheritance. The seasons come and go, hotels burn down, cinemas shut shop and people leave the hill station never to return, but H.H. remains constant and indomitable. Observing her antics, often with disapproval, is her old friend Ruskin, who can never quite cut himself off from her. Melancholic, wry and full of charm, Maharani is a delightful novella about love, death and friendship.




Girl In Room 105


Book Description

Hi, I'm Keshav, and my life is screwed. I hate my job and my girlfriend left me. Ah, the beautiful Zara. Zara is from Kashmir. She is a Muslim. And did I tell you my family is a bit, well, traditional? Anyway, leave that. Zara and I broke up four years ago. She moved on in life. I didn't. I drank every night to forget her. I called, messaged, and stalked her on social media. She just ignored me. However, that night, on the eve of her birthday, Zara messaged me. She called me over, like old times, to her hostel room 105. I shouldn't have gone, but I did... and my life changed forever. This is not a love story. It is an unlove story. From the author of Five Point Someone and 2 States, comes a fast-paced, funny and unputdownable thriller about obsessive love and finding purpose in life against the backdrop of contemporary India.




Good Indian Daughter


Book Description

Long before Ruhi fell pregnant, she knew she was never going to be the 'good Indian daughter' her parents demanded. But when the discovery that she is having a girl sends her into a slump of disappointment, it becomes clear she's getting weighed down by emotional baggage that needs to be unpacked, quickly. So Ruhi sets herself a mission to deal with the potholes in her past before her baby is born. Delving into her youth in suburban Melbourne, she draws a heartrending yet often hilarious picture of a family in crisis, struggling to connect across generational, cultural and personal divides. Sifting through her own shattered self-esteem, Ruhi confronts the abuse threaded through her childhood. How can she hold on to the family and culture she has known and loved her whole life, when they are the reason for her scars? Good Indian Daughter is a brutally honest yet brilliantly funny memoir for anyone who's ever felt like a let-down.




The Night Diary


Book Description

A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK "A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults." -Kirkus, starred review In the vein of Inside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India's partition, and of one girl's journey to find a new home in a divided country It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders. Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together. Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.




Custody


Book Description

An unforgettable novel about what happens when a marriage collapses Shagun is a woman of unassailable social standing, married to a man chosen for her—a rising executive. Her lover is her husband’s boss. She asks for a divorce, and all hell breaks loose. Locked in a venomous legal battle for custody of their eight-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, Shagun and Raman begin a journey that will have unforetold consequences. Set against the backdrop of upper-middle-class South Delhi, Custody is both a searing indictment of India’s judicial system and an intimate portrait of a failing marriage and a family.




The Language of Baklava


Book Description

Diana Abu-Jaber’s vibrant, humorous memoir weaves together delicious food memories that illuminate the two cultures of her childhood—American and Jordanian. Here are stories of being raised by a food-obsessed Jordanian father and tales of Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts and goat stew feasts under Bedouin tents in the desert. These sensuously evoked repasts, complete with recipes, paint a loving and complex portrait of Diana’s impractical, displaced immigrant father who, like many an immigrant before him, cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection on to his children. The Language of Baklava irresistibly invites us to sit down at the table with Diana’s family, sharing unforgettable meals that turn out to be as much about “grace, difference, faith, love” as they are about food.




Instant Calm


Book Description

Lifestyle guru Karen Salmansohn presents a colorful gift book of two-minute meditations and mindfulness tips that help reduce stress and improve focus, clarity, productivity, and sleep. You're just a few minutes away from a more Zen mindset! Almost 40 percent of Americans admit they worry every day, and the media has pegged today's millennials as "The Anxious Generation." Although interest in meditation and mindfulness is ever growing, many of us don't have the time or patience to develop a serious practice. Health and happiness guru Karen Salmansohn's unique brand of fun mini-meditations use the power of focus and the five senses to achieve the same results as more standard meditation techniques in far less time. Packed with full-page illustrations, fascinating scientific studies, and Salmansohn's patented wit, Instant Calm helps you tap into stress-releasing topics like forest bathing (sound), essential oils (smell), earthing (touch), dot meditations (sight), and more—in just two minutes. Soon you’ll be swapping your aarghs for ahhhs! Advance praise for Instant Calm “Instant Calm can help anyone redefine and expand their meditation practice. She shares a range of unique sensory meditations—which tap into all five senses—and offer a quick, fun approach to reset your mind and refocus your energy. I personally have begun to use these mini meditations whenever I just want to feel a mental boost throughout my day. I love the illustrations and Karen’s fun and lighthearted voice! I highly recommend this book as a helpful guide to decompress from life’s challenges.”—Kristine Carlson, New York Times bestselling author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff For Women “If you’re feeling stressed and looking for ways to relax and feel focused (and pretty much everybody in today’s world is!) well . . . then . . . this book is a game-changer for you. It makes doing meditation feel so easy and fun. It’s great for beginners to meditation—and also helpful for advanced meditators—because there’s something for everyone. What I especially love about this book is the wide range of sensory meditations Karen offers. Open up the book anywhere—and you will find a useful fun two-minute tool you can use to relax and feel grounded again. Plus the illustrations are gorgeous.”—Christina Rasmussen, bestselling author of Second Firsts: Live, Laugh and Love Again